Weather damages Westview baseball field

Remnants of the scoreboard at Westview's baseball field in the Martin City Park hang from the poles and lie on the right field foul line after storms blew through the area Wednesday morning.(Photo: Submitted)

The inclement weather that moved through West Tennessee during the early hours of Wednesday had an effect on Westview’s baseball field.

The scoreboard was knocked down. Poles in the backstop were damaged. One part of the net above the backstop was damaged along with one batting cage.

“The weather hit our area pretty hard because we were without electricity at the school until about 8:30 this morning,” said Westview principal Jeromy Davidson. “And seeing our baseball scoreboard laying on the foul line in right field and the other damage showed how bad it got.”

The Chargers’ field is part of the city park next to the school on Hwy. 45 on the south end of Martin. The softball team plays there too, but that field wasn’t damaged.

“There’s a playground and pond and the softball field about 200 yards from our field, and they were spared,” said Westview baseball coach Brian Allen. “There were bleachers from other fields all over the park that were moved around.

“A steel light pole at the T-ball field next to our field was snapped. There were some strong winds that blew through this morning.”

Davidson said a campaign for renovations to be done this summer with funds from private donations had already begun. The damage done Wednesday will speed that process up.

“I don’t know the extent of the damage to the scoreboard, but I know there are parts of it that were blown all around the park,” Davidson said. “It’s an old scoreboard that we planned to replace as part of the renovations.”

With less than three weeks remaining before the start of the season, going through the process of getting the field fixed is another item that will be added to Allen’s preseason agenda. But he said the fact the team plays at a city-own facility is helpful.

“The city is great to work with, and they’re already getting the process started,” Allen said. “One thing that needs to be done is get everything assessed by insurance, and we don’t know how long that will take because there are a lot of people who need insurance assessments.”

The Chargers’ first home game is scheduled for March 21 against Crockett County, which is a District 13-AA game. If the field isn’t playable by that time, Allen said the Chargers have gotten a promise of help from a nearby neighbor.

“(UT Martin baseball coach Rick Robinson) told me they could help out by letting us play a game or two on their field if we needed it,” Allen said. “I hope we don’t need it, but that is obviously appreciated.

“I’m just glad that as bad as it got for a short amount of time, it didn’t get worse than it did. Because it could’ve been a lot worse.”